The Mists of Pandaria announcement isn’t the only divisive news to come out of Blizzcon. Seemingly homophobic comments made by George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, the lead-singer for the metal band Cannibal Corpse, were broadcast in an interview screened during the closing ceremony of the event. While Fisher’s language was bleeped out, an uncensored version of the interview, wherein he levels homophobic insults towards Alliance players, can be viewed at GayGamer.

While Fisher’s invective riddled tirade is obviously aimed at Alliance players, the fact that the interview was broadcast at all is somewhat questionable, given that Fisher encouraged Alliance players to commit suicide (bleeped in the edited version). While the statements were made in jest, and everyone is entitled to free speech, a company has an obligation to consider whether such statements should be broadcast to the public and reflect upon their corporate image.

A thread on the official forums seems to be more focused on the perceived bias between the Horde and the Alliance factions on the whole, but has generated over 75 pages worth of responses.

Blizzard has also issued a statement regarding the incident:

“We are sorry that we offended anyone; everything at our shows is just meant in fun. Thank you all for speaking up. We’ll definitely keep this in mind for future shows,”

What do you think? Have Fisher’s comments been blown out of proportion, or should Blizzard have avoided airing the interview?

People are lame. Pretending to be offended when there is nothing to be offended about. Humanity is going right down the crapper. A modern day witch hunt.

smarrt

OH wow, some guy said the word ‘gay’ in an interview. Somebody think about the children! Oh loooordy!

Anonymous

Wow. The world is fucking stupid.

http://twitter.com/crayonscarf Alexander

The version broadcast was censored. Whats the problem?

Boes

It was someone spouting their insecurities, and then covering it up as a ‘joke’, which is the oldest cop out line in the book. It’s basically a kid who never grew up and hides their fragile ego behind a gore band mask.